Thursday, July 29, 2010

Does only a crazy cat lady think about prettying up her cat's food station? I was so flippin' excited by my clearance finds that i got right to it! The vinyl virgin that i am, i could have used some more instructions, like "it's ok to cut things apart and mix and match" instead of "your creativity will determine your design." I thought the whole sheet had to go on the wall as is, therefore not being creative at all. I don't want zen-like instructions, i need step by step talking to a child instructions with pictures.

Ok, so it's not exactly 100% centered, but it still looks good and adds a bit of cheeriness down there.

I had to tweak the little bow to fit, and i wanted to put the "love" in yellow. wouldn't that have looked nice? Except during my putting it on lightly phase it slid down behind the baseboards. Only me. And yikes, my kitchen is not as olive as it appears.

Cat's corner.

Finally! i was waiting til she came over to test it out.

Oh yes, i think she likes it!

I imagine her thinking "oh, mom," lol, like i am sure most of your daughter's do. Perhaps this is what makes me the crazy cat lady, more than adding the vinyl.

So there you go. For 1.97 i have snazzed up the food station. I give this two paws up!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I admit. I've got Hobby Lobby envy, and to cure it i ran to Joan's Fabrics at lunch. I had no clear agenda except clearance. If it wasn't at least 70% off, i thumbed my nose at it. After making my way around the perimeter i went to the mega clearance aisle and proceeded to scoop up every vinyl related product that caught my fancy. I have never used vinyl, but for the clearance prices they were, i was willing and eager to try them.

I really, really wanted to use the individual letters, but i blanked on what word to make and for where. I thought, laundry/craft area that will one day (hopefully) be what i envision in my head. So i ransacked and made a huge mess calmly and patiently went through about 7 bins and got nothing. I had all but my C-i thought i'd make the word CRAFT but then i found a Y, and thought i'll make CRAFTY. There was a K, for KRAFTY, but i thought well, that's pretty desperate, plus it would make me hungry all the time for mac and cheese. mmm, mac and cheese.

where were we? a yes, behold my variety of vinyl.

Those smaller stickers were marked as .50, but they rang up .25! I thought those records would look great for our retro diner basement, so i bought a ton. Since those letters didn't work out for me, this tube holds the whole alphabet, so ha!

"i love mew." too cute, and they too rang up half off, so they were 1.97. I'm going to put it where Sunday's food bowl is so she can know how much i lahhhhhve her. Ok, so i didn't get that much (there really wasn't much that struck my fancy) but i feel good. My jealousy has somewhat dissipated, at least til someone blogs about their latest and greatest find!

Monday, July 26, 2010

My sweet friend Maggie recently bought a new old house (it was built in 1871!) and i was finally able to go check it out. It's a tiny little thing, but with character and space that is perfect for her in this stage of life.

The living room is the space you walk into...she made no changes in this room except taking the drapes from the dining room and putting them here. I really love the jewel tones in here. I really should have taken a pic of the dining room, b/c the wallpaper was a mess...it was like 70's linoleum tiles of fruits and veggies in wallpaper form. Yuck.

The kitchen was an add on done by the previous owner, and poor Maggie has already had a contractor out about taking down those cabinets...why would someone cover those fabulous windows? Cute little breakfast bar was left open, thank goodness!

Ok, This i love. I need to find this piece, which she ordered years ago from a catalog, and do this.

She never realized she had so many blue pieces, and decided to display them together along her windows. Love it! And love this peanut butter cheesecake she made for us to enjoy!

The previous owner was Swedish, and left little notes around the house. This must be some sort of affirmation? It was on the inside of one of the kitchen cabinets. Does anyone know what this says?? i know i could look it up, but i thought i'd see if anyone knows. i apologize if it's something that shouldn't be on here (but i doubt it!)

She also labeled this box and the contents in Swedish so an intruder wouldn't know what they were...isn't that genius?! She wrote them in English for Maggie...it means neighbors keys, and each ring was labeled as to which neighbor it belonged to.

Maggie and the woman met a few times, b/c she wanted to impart advice about rattling windows and other idiosyncracies of the house.

Maggie moved in to find many instructions and labels...this note says "When it rains, i put this towel on the floor by the front door for boots, etc, to try to keep water off the floor." Is this sweet or controlling, i can't tell.

Hardware for shutters

An emptybox. Labeled as such!!

Hope you enjoyed this tour, and i just had to tell you guys about these notes! I will be posting a neighborhood tour with some amazing older homes, too!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

This is by no means an earth shattering before and after, but i think the feel of the space was really changed without spending a lot of money and without doing anything major. Our whole upstairs was really an afterthought, even 3 years later, and this girl has had enough!

Here we have the only space the bed can go, in front of the window, so i wanted to create a statement wall that could sort of act like a headboard, or at least an anchoring point. These maroon curtains were left over from college days, and i stupidly thought i could save money by using what i had. I know you can't really tell, but the accents were Parisian influence...the Arc de Triomphe watercolor that my SIL gave me, some Toulouse Lautrec prints, the Eiffel Tower lamp. This was still the rudementary stages, sans carpet and chaise. However, it did (and still does) have hideous 80s furniture and piles of laundry. Keepin it real yo, keepin it real.

With carpet and chaise. And laundry pile. I really like the bedding, it was new for the space, so i wanted to find a duvet to save money. Why yes, those are barely off white walls. Aren't they lovely?

The carpet that i need to--sorry.

The carpet that i need to work with, trying to pull out the blue/gray this go round.

Ta da! Ok, there isn't much different except the drapes, rods, art switcheroo, lamps, and duvet, and there's a big ol' bed crinkle, but i think this feels more relaxing with these tones. I think it says "a real grown up couple lives here."

More art switcheroo to bring in the cool blue, and paint sample on the wall. This color (Benjamin Moore Nantucket Fog) isn't gonna work, it is too blue and i am afraid all over will be too dark for the space. My other color contender is Baby Fawn.

That's it tucked into the art, but it's just the chip. Detail of the drapes.

Hideous 80s cream and gold furniture, though luckily it goes with the golds. I wish S would build something that would go that whole length and be a little higher. More paint sample. See free vase?

Trying to give you a better sense of the space. It isn't a large room, but it is certainly not small. There is plenty of space.

I took this sitting between the dormers so you could see how much room is at the end of the bed, and where the tall dresser is. I have a new bed skirt, but it has yet to go on.

View from behind the bed...i love when the leaves grow in b/c it hides the neighbors house. You can see their brick on the bottom right. The cat loves this view, too, and talks to the squirrels and the birds. Rather annoying in the morning when she climbs on my head to get up there.

So this:

to this:

Imagine how nice paint would look, eh?

1. Sherwin Williams Black Fox-too dark?

2. SW Earl Gray...too blue?

3. SW Roycroft Mist Gray..too light?

Better stop now...

Linking to these parties + it's a blog party, crafty day @ along for the ride, a round tuit @ jembellish

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I love taking quizzes, things like "what food would you be" or "what color is your home" or something. Anything. I even want to sign up for that e dating that gives your personality matches, just so i could fill out all those components about myself. I wonder what questions they ask and what answers you have to choose from. Don't think S would appreciate that, but whatevs.

So the new man in town is the find your roofing color quiz over at Owens Corning Roofing. The result tells you what color combos would suit you and your roof best, and you get an alayzed "psychology of color." My colors turned out to be orange and taupe (the ones i chose as one of my least favorites). My psychology of color-i love that term- was pretty accurate (i am rather charming, energetic, and warm) except when it called orange fickle, and said it could be flaky. Excuse me. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, "how rude!" Yeah, it appears i just referenced Full House on my blog.

The saving grace was my roof color, Summer Harvest. It also suggested Cornucopia and Indian Summer....you know what this means. Fall. Fall and me are likethis, and even the color psychologist knows it. Hurrah!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

in that they sometimes sell the strangest things. These were on air as i am watching on mute, as i often do, and really. Just, really? Fans that don't look like fans, because there's something wrong with fans? Let's have a decorative cat fan instead, that makes more sense. For 60 dollars, no less. That sweet face, yet blades as innards.

Or perhaps a rooster. ok, i can actually see this in someone's (not my) kitchen.

Does one give metal for wedding anniversaries? Instead of real flowers, the hubs can give their ladies this.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

The stripping saga continues....alright, so S came home and declared my table "a sh!ttin' mess" and proceeded to break out the big guns. If i knew how to, i'd draw circles around the tools in the upper right corner, and write "the big guns." Pretend that's what i did. Big Guns.

You'll notice that the table is now in pieces, and before i was told that to take it apart would break the wood. Clearly he thought this was a necessary sacrifice since i went out to the garage to find it like this...i wasn't even asked!

Even bigger guns...plus an ET toe. You guys see that thing? It's like ET's finger. I call it ET toe. Hmm, perhaps this is to much information....

So thanks to more stripping and sanding, the pieces are all down to the barest they can be, and all separated. I need to wait til it's not 9,000 degrees or raining cats and dogs before i do the rest, but i am glad those layers of paint are gone. To recap, the top had 1) purple 2) red 3) green. The sides had 1) purple 2) red 3) white 4) green 5) orange.

As much as i feel that this is best for the piece, starting fresh like this, i'm kinda sad that i took away it's past. Like, was each new paint layer another time someone bought it? Or was passed around a family? Do you ever wonder about the past lives of your thrifted finds?

Yesterday I went to a new to me thrift store, which i heard was supposed to be the best...it wasn't. i was sorely dissappointed. But i did get exactly the stencil i had in mind for some projects, and i have no idea if the price was good. I think i was just so determined to buy something at this store that i needed to buy it. Please don't tell me that Michael's sells these for less than 2.99, ok??

Linking up to Southern Hospitality, Coastal Charm, Debbie Doos, Tales from Bloggeritaville, it's so very thrifty.

Tomorrow is sweet bug's birthday! i'm not making this up...we don't exactly how old she is (4-5) but we know her exact birth date.

She's sleeping on the ottoman, on my laptop, hanging over the side. Yeah, i really don't think it gets any cuter.

My clearance wreath came, and i'm happy with it. It's kinda...cheesetastic and i would be angry if i actually paid full price for this. But since i didn't, it's all good. Z Gallerie, I'm not sure we're going to have an ongoing relationship. I think this might be a first date only type of thing. It's not you, it's me.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

I am suuuuper excited about these new curtains for the bedroom, but you only get a sneak peak. They are an icy blue with a shimmery gold pattern. I got them at a curtain outlet/warehouse near me for $19 a panel. I don't think that's too bad, especially since they are perfect for the room. Remember i wanted to lean more to the blue gray, but still had to work with the golds in the carpet. I have seen this exact pattern as a shower curtain in Homegoods if you love it and want it.

These prompted a whole shopping expidition, of course, where i proceeded to buy numerous different duvet covers. I had an icy blue, but they were too blue next to the curtains. A gray was too dark. Should i go champagne colored? Still not sure. I bought and returned, bought and returned.

Two things that were not going to be returned were these lamps. I love them, and i was determined to use them. They have a silvery base with a gold crinkly overlay on top, again, perfect. I was afraid i'd have to do brass or gold, which doesn't fit the rest of the house, or the clear glass bases that are lovely, but aren't really me. These were only 30 bucks each, shade included. Homegoods=Love.

On no, they are not tall enough. Blast. I'll google those clear display risers that the stores use, because these must workin this room. I can no longer stand the Eiffel Tower and the 80s touch lamp! But blogging again has come to the rescue. Books! People using books as decor. I use books as decor, so why not to raise up my perfect new lamps?

Jackets on didn't work, so i took them off. But this was still too busy for me, so i turned themaround! Blogging helps again! Hehe, Hooray for Yiddish kills me every time!

My side.

His side. I like that the color on that one book is different, i don't think i am going to change it. Is it quirky? An eyesore? Alluding to a deeper meaning that books, like snowflakes, and fingerprints, are all different? Am i hereby certifiable? Don't answer that.

Illuminated and better picture of the base. Really like the texture the shade brings in, too. Can't wait to get some color on those walls (but what?!) and furniture that is my style, ie, not 80's cream and gold!